Survivor’s miracle baby
Star Mail started the year on a positive note, catching up with Mount Evelyn stroke survivor Nicole Gallacher, who welcomed baby Gus into the world in early December.
“If you told me back then that in two years time, you’ll be on a family holiday with your baby I would not have believed you at all. It’s amazing how things can change, how different things can be and the difference time makes,” she said.
As a tribute to the paramedics and doctors who helped save her life, little Gus was named after the men who made split second decisions and were there throughout her time in ICU.
Gus’ first name is taken from Augustus, Nicole’s brain surgeon who performed the initial surgery when she arrived in hospital.
His second names, Michael and Andrew, were chosen because of the paramedic Michael who was able to assess Nicole in the ambulance and decided instantly she needed a neurosurgeon, while Andrew monitored the ECMO machine, watching on as Nicole improved little by little.
“My only message is of hope. Life goes on after stroke and it does get better. It’s very hard at the time but it does get better but you also have to work really hard for it to get better.”
Strike teams aided Flowerdale after reflections of Ash Wednesday
Just after the 40 year anniversary of the Ash Wednesday fires in February, firefighters were setting off to Flowerdale to help extinguish a major grassfire.
Members from Mooroolbark and Wonga Park CFA brigades responded as part of strike team 1378 to protect assets, back burn and provide specialist equipment.
“Nearing 800 hectares” according to Mooroolbark CFA spokesperson Phil Cuthbert, there was “going to be a lot of work in blacking out and keeping it contained.”
The first fire of the summer season, it was a timely reminder that summer wasn’t over and residents of the Yarra Ranges needed to remain vigilant.
Reflecting on Ash Wednesday with the then Lilydale Fire Brigade captain Frank Whelan, lieutenant Ron Haines said they both agreed Ash Wednesday was perhaps one of the busiest fire periods the brigade had seen for many years.
“1400 hectares of land were destroyed in the Warburton fire along with 27 homes and 30 other buildings,” he said.
“More than 180 fires occurred on 16 February 1983 including eight major blazes and the CFA estimated there were more than 16,000 firefighters involved in the response efforts.”
Changing mental health
After coming out the other side of his own mental health battle, Marcus Reeves used his pain and experience for the better.
As the founder of mental health fundraising event She Won’t Be Right Mate, hosted in late 2022 for the second time at Yarra Glen Racecourse, Marcus and his team were able to raise $18,000 for the Eastern Health Families where a Parent has a Mental Illness (FaPMI) Program.
“We donated to Eastern Health the first year because that’s where I had to get help for the first time and then Anna (marketing manager) came to me and said there was a program to help families and kids,” he said.
“The more awareness kids can get around the issue and maybe what mum and dad are going through and to help mum and dad seemed like a really good charity organisation.”
Eastern Health Associate Program Director for Adult Community Mental Health Services Lisa Gill said the work of FaPMI has become critical in supporting children and parents through mental health.
“Victorian statistics show about a quarter of children in Victoria are living with a parent with mental illness, so it’s actually quite significant,” she said.
The donation was going to be put towards expanding programs and special offerings like camps.
Mourning Esra Haynes
The death of Lilydale High School Year 8 student and Don Valley resident Esra Haynes sent ripples of shock and emotion throughout the Yarra Ranges community.
She died following the inhalation of deodorant, known as chroming, which saw her go into cardiac arrest and battle in hospital for a week.
Having been named captain of her Montrose Football Club Under 14s team in the 2023 season, the club, too, mourned her death greatly.
“In her short time at the club, Esra went from strength to strength as a leader on the field, and at training.
“Esra was determined, fun, cheeky and talented, she will be greatly missed by her teammates, coaches, and the wider community of our Club.”
Esra’s death saw renewed calls for better education around the use and risks of inhalants.
Youth Drugs and Alcohol Advice (YoDAA) manager Kellie Ferris said the 2017 Australian Secondary Students’ Alcohol and Drug (ASSAD) survey showed inhalant use was reported at a higher rate among younger people.
The ASSAD report showed that “18 per cent of all students had intentionally sniffed inhalants at least once in their lifetime”. “
Why young people use any substance is varied, one aspect of chroming may be due to accessibility and lower cost. It’s important to talk with each young person to get their experience and reasons,” Ms Ferris said.
Scholarship recipients hit Kokoda
Hiking through vast jungle, trekking rocky terrain and seeing breathtaking views is what two students from Cire Community School Mount Evelyn experienced on the Kokoda Trail.
The adventure saw senior school students Cammy and Rhylie depart Melbourne for Papua New Guinea on 17 April to begin the gruelling eight day trek along the iconic trail, with Star Mail checking in on their adventure when they got back on home soil.
“Getting to learn their culture and getting to learn a bit about them, to learn a bit about the language, matches with actually just walking the track,” Rhylie said.
For Cammy, being amongst the wilderness was the best highlight, even if only getting glimpses every now and then while walking, the view at the top was always worth it.
“It’s incredible. You feel like an ant and everything there is so much bigger than it is here, I think because it grows so wildly and organically. It’s just so cool,” she said.
Hanging up the high-vis after four decades
A beloved crossing guard hung up the high vis in Croydon North after 44 years of service at Yarra Road Primary School.
Carmel Black devoted a lifetime to her community and decided to retire at the end of the school term.
“It’s time to pack up the uniform, fold up the flags and pass the stop sign over to someone new and retire,” she said.
“I stayed because I love the job and adore the children, they have shared so much with me and they are like an extended family.”
Farewelling a Mount Evelyn stalwart
Hundreds of people gathered on Tuesday 4 July to bid farewell to a man of “nerve and courage” – Mount Evelyn’s Roger Boness.
The war veteran, father, grandfather, brother and friend died after a long battle with cancer aged 77 on Thursday 22 June.
Remembered for his determination and humour, Roger’s children Alice and Stuart said there was never a dull moment spent with him, whether it was watching the St Kilda Football team, fishing or being at the beach.
“He was a born leader. He gave loyalty and he attracted loyalty…Bones didn’t need pips on his shoulder to inspire confidence and respect. As a leader, he showed the classical military principles of being fair and firm and friendly. He hated unfairness. He hated dishonesty,” Roger’s former officer Neville Clark said.
“He was tough. He was the embodiment of the spirit of Anzac and he also had a kindness, a well of kindness in him, which out-flowed to many people.”
Vietnam War, 50 years on
In August, veterans from across Mount Evelyn and Lilydale remembered 50 years since Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War.
On Friday 18 August, the sound of bagpipes rang throughout Mount Evelyn marking the occasion at 11am.
The topic of conscription was at the forefront for many of the 60,000 men who served in the war, including Lilydale RSL president Bill Dobson who received notice in 1968.
After 10 weeks of training at Puckapunyal, Mr Dobson was sent to Vietnam.
For the next 12 months, Mr Dobson would live in a four man tent surrounded by sandbags at least four feet high and a mosquito net covering his body.
As part of the ordinance unit, Mr Dobson spent much of his time going from base to base in Nui Dat through flat, open fields, driving along made roads and past rice paddocks.
“We were a combat supply unit so we did some combat with infantry and other times we would supply all the units. One of the things we used to do is drive ammunition to the various bases,” he said.
From January 1969 to February 1970 Mr Dobson served in Vietnam and did his duty despite realising it wasn’t Australia’s fight.
“I realised not long after we arrived we shouldn’t be there, it was a civil war. So then it was a matter of surviving the next 12 months,” he said.
Mother’s fight for life
With six incredible reasons to keep fighting, Mooroolbark mum Susan Mackenzie aims to defy the odds, after being diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) three years ago.
In September, Star Mail spoke with the mother who battled her first diagnosis during her pregnancy with her fifth child, Jackson, after finding a lump in her breast first thought to be a blocked milk duct, Susan was on a path to chemotherapy by January 2020.
“It was surreal. It didn’t feel real to me,” she said.
When pregnant with her sixth child Cooper, Susan learnt the cancer had spread to her lungs, ribs, bones, liver and pelvis, giving her a terminal diagnosis.
“I don’t feel like I’m about to keel over and die. I’ve got so much fight and so much determination to keep going. I have to. I’ve got little people that rely on me, I need to keep fighting.”
Helping raise awareness for TNBC, which accounts for approximately 15 per cent of the 20,000 breast cancer diagnoses in Australia every year, Susan told her story in the Pink Hope documentary Beyond the Diagnosis: Confronting Triple Negative Breast Cancer.
“One of the main reasons why I jumped on this documentary is to raise awareness. I want to help other women, even though I might not see the results of this in my lifetime, something has to change.”
Yering clubhouse left in ruins
The Eastern Golf Club in Yering was left in ruins after a fire ripped through the building on Monday 16 October.
The blaze was so significant that CFA crews remained on site overnight and into the following day to monitor and extinguish hotspots.
Incident Controller and Coldstream CFA Captain Sean Bethell arrived with the first appliance on the scene and said in the end they had about 26 different appliances from CFA and Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) turned out.
“Two of those were aerial appliances to make access for water streams into the top of the building, and we also had a number of pumpers for pumping water from two different static supplies on the property,” he said.
In a media statement, the Eastern Golf Club declared the course would reopen to be played the following weekend, with plans for temporary clubhouse facilities and amenities getting underway immediately.
“As a Club with a history that extends back a 100+ years, the loss of our clubhouse is devastating, but it is the loss of irreplaceable trophies, photographs, artworks and memorabilia that hurts most deeply,” club captain Fred Jones said in the statement.
CFA life savers honoured
The remarkable effort of two local CFA brigades, with help from FRV, to save two children from a burning house was recognised in mid-November.
Mooroolbark and Chirnside Park firefighters received the Unit Citation for Service award on Wednesday 22 November for rescuing three unconscious people from a burning property in Mooroolbark on 5 September 2022 and performing life saving CPR on the two children.
The 17 members in total were recognised for using a “range of intricate skills in the face of [a] distressing situation” and were “commended for epitomising the spirit of CFA at its highest level”.
“I haven’t seen it awarded to this many people from one brigade but it’s only been awarded 10 times in the past, so from what I’m aware of, this is a very rare occurrence for our officers to recognise this many people from the one brigade,” Mooroolbark CFA captain Mark Drennan said.
The four bedroom home was fully alight when CFA arrived but getting the two children and their mother out of the burning house was the first thing on the agenda.
“We suspended firefighting at the time, the house fire wasn’t our priority. Our priority was to get these kids alive then we resumed firefighting,” Mr Drennan said.
“The work done by all the crews there took a massive effort. When you’re doing CPR on such a large scale like that, rotating crews through to continue CPR and continue oxygen, that’s why so many people were awarded because it took a lot of people to bring the children back.”
Chirnside Park CFA captain Ben Cash said “members don’t attend, respond or volunteer for recognition” but it was a great honour for the members who responded that night.
“This distinguished honour goes to show the incredible effort of our members during this event,” he said.
“It’s humbling and extremely honouring to receive this citation.”
Humanitarian of the Year
Leave A Light On founder and Mount Evelyn resident Suzie Ratcliffe was announced as the 2023 Humanitarian of the Year at the Fred Awards.
Being honoured in the same light as someone like Fred Hollows, who Suzie said was just “a fabulous, generous, kind hearted gentleman…is amazing”.
“It just helps us raise that awareness [of missing persons]. It’s vitally needed to be on that same sort of platform to reach more people. That’s our ultimate goal,” she said.
Suzie’s sister Joanne Ratcliffe is the face and name of one of Australia’s most well-known, unresolved missing persons cases.
It was 50 years ago in August that Joanne, 11, and four-year-old Kirste Gordon disappeared from Adelaide oval during a football match.
The suspected abduction and murder has perplexed investigators for years on end without any answers.
In 2015 she started the not-for-profit Leave A Light On to help families like hers find answers or some closure.
